By Colin A. Coleman, John E. Ottaviani, or Brian Reilly On March 29, 2019, a bill was submitted to the Rhode Island General Assembly entitled “Consumer Privacy Protection Act – 2019 H 5930” (the Proposed Act). If enacted, the Proposed Act would place more stringent requirements on the collection and retention of consumers’ personal information by a...
By Colin A. Coleman, John E. Ottaviani, or Brian Reilly Does your business have employees or customers in Massachusetts or Rhode Island? If so, you need to have a written information security program (“WISP”). If your business (wherever located) collects, stores or uses personal information about a Massachusetts resident, you are legally required to: (a) develop, implement...
Recently, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a proposed rule to require all applicants who have their domicile or principal place of business outside the United States to hire an attorney who is licensed to practice law to represent them in trademark matters before the USPTO. The new rule would apply to applicants filing...
By Colin Coleman, John Ottaviani, and Brian Reilly Does your business provide company or customer data to any of its vendors? If so, do you know what contractual provisions are in place to protect your business in the event of a data breach by your vendor? Vendors typically try to limit their liability under their contracts...
By Colin A. Coleman, John E. Ottaviani, or Brian Reilly On January 10, 2019, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed new legislation to amend Massachusetts’ data breach notification law. The new law, which will be effective as of April 11, 2019, makes a few changes that are particularly relevant to Massachusetts businesses: 1. Emphasis on Immediate Breach Notification. Although...
By Colin A. Coleman, John E. Ottaviani, or Brian Reilly January is a good time for all businesses to review and update their cybersecurity policies and practices. We are only a few days into 2019, and already we are hearing breaking news about new data breaches. The German government suffered a breach involving many prominent politicians and...
As companies dash toward year-end, scammers are also hard at work. In one common scam, known as “spoofing,” an employee receives an email that appears to be from within an organization in order to trick the recipient into sending the scammer money, sensitive information, or other materials of value. These emails are typically addressed from...
By David Wittmann and Brian Reilly Within the past few weeks, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled two enforcement actions against companies engaged in the sale of digital assets. It also separately settled actions against DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather for their failure to disclose payments they received in relation to promoting the sale of...
Building on our prior articles, there are many legal issues faced by early-stage companies. Business owners would be wise to address these important questions as they start-up and develop their business. What choice of entity is proper for your start-up company? For a new business, one of the key legal issues is how to structure...
Because of the complexities of the U.S. trademark registration system, many trademark owners from other countries, and their counsel, are reluctant to file national or international applications in the United States. One of the reasons often given is the higher cost of obtaining trademark protection in the United States due to the statutory requirements and...
